Next Time, Call First
by KateToast
Summary: In which Johanna Mason drops in unannounced and shakes up Peeta's planned uneventful day off. Unsurprisingly, the conversation swings wildly from one random topic to the next - though she does inadvertently help Peeta and Katniss make up faster than expected.


**XXX**

A knock at the door startled Peeta awake. He didn't know when he'd drifted to sleep, though the clock on the side table suggested it'd been a while. The rain seemed to have let up, no longer pounding but instead offering soft, steady taps against the roof. He swiped a hand across his face and lumbered to his feet, prosthetic leg wavering for a moment before finding firm ground, the way it always did after a bout of disuse. There was a throbbing, too, a phantom limb pain that could never be shaken away, because there was nothing to shake.

Three more hard raps sounded from the front door and Peeta picked up his pace. He glanced into the kitchen and saw the telltale lack of boots dripping onto the mat, the missing jacket. She was still out? Peeta had assumed when the rain began in earnest that Katniss would take shelter in one of the shops in town and come home when it slowed, but evidently he'd been wrong. Suddenly, surely unnecessarily worried, he lunged for the doorknob and pulled.

He didn't know what he'd been expecting on the other side, but the terrible, violent years of his past had given him quite the dark imagination. So it was with shock that he unclenched the doorknob and stared at the damp individual in the doorway.

"What a welcome," Johanna Mason remarked with a raised eyebrow. She stepped inside without invitation, forcing Peeta to back into the house as well, and began shaking out her dark, uneven shoulder-length hair. "It's rude to leave a guest on the doorstep, you know. You District 12 kids have no manners."

"Johanna," Peeta finally said, recovering from his surprise. "Come in, get dry. Let me take your coat."

Johanna handed off her soggy leather jacket and glanced down at her less-soggy shirt, calculating the damage the rain had caused. Peeta noted the vulnerable frown that passed over her face, but it was gone when she brought her head back up to look around the house. "I see you haven't changed things too much since I was last here."

"You know Katniss," Peeta remarked, walking back to the kitchen with Johanna on his heels. "Change doesn't come too easy."

He hadn't meant that last part to come out as bitter as it had, and Johanna jumped on it instantly. "Trouble in paradise?"

"Uh… no," he said, hanging her jacket. He didn't want to air he and Katniss's marital disagreements to Johanna Mason, of all people.

"Where _is_ your darling wife?" she asked.

"Out hunting."

"She still does that?" Johanna asked, inspecting the knick-knacks on the shelves.

"Well, there's still a need for food. Just because there's no Capitol anymore doesn't mean everyone's rich all of a sudden. Plus, I mean, it's comforting to her."

Johanna nodded but didn't respond, making herself at home at the wooden kitchen table. Peeta reached for a loaf of bread and a knife, slicing in moments. It was habit, one that visitors didn't complain about. "So not that it isn't nice to see you after so long, Johanna, but what brings you to Twelve?" _And unannounced on my doorstep,_ he wanted to add, but courtesy won out.

"Work," she said simply, eyes on the back window. Peeta brought the sliced bread to the table and sat down, nodding. She took a slice and sniffed it. "We're trying to set up a council here, that'll represent the district in the new government. The council will bring the opinions of the district to Paylor and her team." She took a bite of the bread. "Mmm. Nice. You may've never been the best fighter, Peeta, but you make the best damn bread in Panem."

"Thanks," Peeta said, adjusting back into her use of backhanded compliments, made more difficult from the grogginess of his unexpected nap. "A district council? That's a huge step."

"Yup. We're going for democracy… again. We'll see how long it lasts this time."

"You don't sound very confident."

"I'm not. Look at history, Mellark. It's inevitable that this one won't last forever. We do this over and over again. We'll have another Hunger Games in no time."

"Don't say that," Peeta said quickly. He couldn't imagine everything he and his loved ones had been through being all for naught. "It's better than nothing," he added as Johanna ate more bread. "Who knows? Maybe this'll be the time it finally sticks."

"Always the optimist," Johanna said with an eye-roll.

"Someone needs to be," he replied, shrugging. "So they've sent you here to…"

"Start floating the word about the council, see who stands out. There's gonna be an election and everything, in every district."

"So you have to go to every district and tell them about this plan?"

"No, just Twelve. We split it up between us. Lucky me," Johanna added. Peeta raised an unconvinced brow. She stared back at him, then broke eye contact, relenting. "Okay. I may have volunteered to come here, you know, to check in on things."

"Things?"

"People. You and Katniss."

"Johanna Mason, you old softie," Peeta teased.

"Quit it," she demanded. "Plus, like I said, the best bread in the world is made right here. I had to promise to bring some back to Two."

Peeta picked apart his slice of the walnut bread, thinking through his next words. "I'm surprised you volunteered to come here. That you didn't go to Seven."

Johanna shrugged. "There's nothing left for me there."

"I guess I'm surprised someone else didn't offer to come here."

The statement hung between them for longer than Peeta would've liked. He hadn't wanted to make things awkward, but his curiosity had gotten the best of him. He hadn't seen nor spoken to Gale Hawthorne in five years. There was no bitterness between them, at least on Peeta's end, but the way things had ended between Gale and Katniss had left a massive, roiling cloud of uncertainty over the relationship between them all. The fact that Gale hadn't come to Peeta and Katniss's wedding celebration had been duly noted but hardly discussed.

"He went to Four," Johanna said finally. "His mom and siblings are there now, you know."

"I know. Katniss's mother is working at the new hospital there."

"I know," Johanna said. "Annie keeps me pretty up to date."

"Us too," Peeta said.

Johanna had the look of someone who was bursting to say something while simultaneously trying to fight the urge. Peeta figured if he waited long enough she'd crack – Johanna wasn't known for her subtlety or discretion, unless she had really gone through a transformation since he'd last seen her a few years ago.

"We're seeing each other."

Peeta's eyes widened. He hadn't been expecting that. He shook his head – was he still asleep? Johanna Mason and Gale Hawthorne? "You're seeing each other," he repeated.

"Well, sleeping with each other."

"Ah! Okay," Peeta said quickly. "All right. Well… I'm happy for you guys?"

"Is it weird?" Johanna mused, crossing her legs and gesturing with a hand in the air, her head leaning on the other. Her relief at getting out the secret was palpable. "That's part of the reason I came here. To figure out if it was weird. I know it's been a while and that you and Katniss are married and everything, but he was hung up on her for a long time and I can't get into something like that, I hate that kind of crap. They don't even talk anymore, and I don't know if that means it's all in the past or if it means it's all still bubbling right below the surface—"

"Johanna," Peeta cut in, and she looked at him, bemused. It was a lot of information to take in. "Have you talked to Gale about this?"

"No," she said simply. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you obviously have feelings for him," Peeta pointed out. "And you're not gonna figure out how he feels by coming to District Twelve and talking to me."

"I guess what I wanted to do was talk to Katniss about it," Johanna admitted.

"And get her approval?"

Johanna made a face. "I don't need her _approval_ to do anything, it's _my_ life."

"But?"

"But…" Johanna sighed and then seemed to steel herself for what she was going to say next. "Listen, Mellark. I don't have a lot of people left. Not many know me, not in the way you and Katniss do. You guys have been through a lot of the same shit as me. And sometimes it's nice to know that somewhere out there, there's people who get it. So if I'm gonna do something that's gonna potentially fuck up this weird thing we all have, I wanna try to avoid that."

Peeta understood. Like Johanna said, he was one of the few who could. He thought of Finnick, and he thought of that long-ago day in the arena when Johanna had said she had no one left the Capitol could use against her. He remembered her screams in the cell next to his, night after night, until he couldn't tell the difference between her howls and his own. A strange kinship had formed between them during that time, one they'd never delved very far into.

"I know Katniss, Johanna," Peeta said. "And I think she'll get it. I think she'll be happy you and Gale are both moving on. You're her friends."

Johanna shifted uncomfortably – naked emotion wasn't her strong suit. "Well don't get all sappy about it, Peeta," she said, but there was little venom.

"Hey, I'm the sappy one," he shrugged. "But just remember that Katniss doesn't really like to even discuss this kind of stuff." A current point of contention for Peeta and his wife, despite the remarkable strides she had made since the war, but he didn't want to share that with Johanna, either.

Neither of them said anything; Peeta was still digesting the strange turn his quiet afternoon had taken. Johanna took the lead: "While we're being all real with each other I may as well ask: how're you doing, Mellark?"

Peeta frowned. "How so?"

"Your flashbacks."

He fidgeted. Even the mention of his episodes made him jittery, as if one was lurking just out of sight, waiting to strike (which, of course, was exactly how it happened). "It's pretty under control."

"Yeah?"

"We all have bad days," Peeta said. "And when they're really bad… I have Katniss."

Johanna groaned. "Disgustingly sweet."

"And you?" Peeta figured he would ask, just in case no one else was. He wasn't sure what type of conversations Johanna and Gale would have, if they got into the deep, dark, painful stuff that took mountains of trust to share.

"What about me?" Johanna asked, inspecting her nails. Peeta wondered if there would ever come a day when she dropped the too-disinterested persona she had developed against the Capitol after her Games.

"It's raining outside. And you were standing in it."

"I walked all the way here in it, Brainless," Johanna said, using the term of endearment usually reserved for Katniss.

"I'm just impressed, that's all."

"Well don't go giving me a gold star just yet, Mellark," Johanna said sardonically. "It was pretty much sink or swim, pardon the pun. Couldn't avoid it forever."

"Still," Peeta said, wishing for once she would just take the props given to her and move on. "What they did to us…"

"What they did to us was fucking bullshit," Johanna interrupted, and Peeta recognized the wild young woman from the Hunger Games. "They killed our friends and our families. They _tried_ to kill me with water and electricity. But they didn't, I didn't die, I'm not dead – what was I supposed to do? I couldn't just curl up and _wait_ to join my parents and my siblings and Finnick. I'm not like you, Peeta. I didn't have someone to hold my hand on the bad days. I just had to get over it by myself."

Peeta felt chastised; there was no other way to describe it. And he felt terrible. "I would've been there for you, Johanna," he said, looking at the table. "I was there in the Capitol, too. You didn't have to recover alone."

Johanna didn't respond. Peeta glanced up and saw her swipe a finger under a wet eye. "I guess I resented you guys, a little bit," she admitted, crossing her arms over her chest. "The war ended and you guys came back here and you had each other. I went back to Seven and remembered that I had nothing."

"You could've come here," Peeta said.

"I would've died from boredom here," Johanna shot back. "I'm good at being alone."

"But are you happy, Johanna?" Peeta asked. "Are you happy being alone?"

Johanna was glaring at the floor. "Can anyone ever really be happy?" she wondered darkly.

"We can try," he pushed. "That's all any of us can do. Sometimes we try and we hit the mark and it's amazing, and sometimes we try and we fail and we're miserable. But either way, having someone else there is gonna be better than having no one." Johanna said nothing. "I think you should see where things go with Gale, and I think Katniss would agree with me, because neither of you should be alone anymore."

"You just wanna pair everybody off, don't you?" Johanna asked lightheartedly, which Peeta hoped meant she actually listened to what he said.

"What can I say? I'm a romantic," he replied, cracking a smile.

"You've always been good with words," she noted, sizing him up, the heavy moment passed. "You ever have interest in politics?"

Peeta chuckled. "Not really. There was never any politics to be interested in."

"I'm just saying," Johanna continued. "You can make speeches, you're quick on your feet, everybody loves you because you're a war hero, married to the Mockingjay…"

"What, you want me to run for the council?"

"I want you to _run_ the council."

Peeta stared at Johanna Mason. "Don't make me regret all the nice things I just said about you, Peeta," she added.

"I, uh, don't have an answer for you, Johanna. I'm pretty busy with the bakery."

"Well," she said, standing suddenly and grabbing her still-soaking jacket. "That's not gonna stop me from suggesting your name."

Peeta stood also. "Are you leaving?"

"Yeah, I think I've had enough emotional sit-downs for one day," Johanna said, starting to the front door.

"You don't want to wait for Katniss? I thought you wanted to talk to her."

"I think I need to talk to someone else first. Besides, it'll all probably sound better coming from her husband than it would coming from me."

"Leaving me with all the heavy lifting," Peeta joked.

"You're a baker, I figured you could carry the load," she replied breezily. "Think about what I said."

"Think about what _I _said," Peeta returned. "If you ever need to talk…"

Johanna sighed, opening the door. Outside the rain had stopped, though the clouds lingered. "Let's not do this again for a long, long time, Mellark."

"Whatever you say, Mason."

She strolled down the steps but stopped at the bottom and turned back. "I'll let you know how things go."

"That'd be good," he nodded. "Come by any time."

Peeta stayed in the doorway until Johanna Mason had disappeared down the road back into town. He felt exhausted all over again. So much for an uneventful day off…

**XXX**

Soup was simmering on the stove when the kitchen door opened and closed. He didn't turn around immediately, giving the soup a few more stirs and giving his wife a chance to set down her bag and remove her shoes.

She was taking off her jacket when he finally did turn, hanging it on the back of a chair. Her dark hair was disheveled but she seemed relatively dry and unharmed. When she caught him staring she gave a small smile, the one Peeta had realized over time was reserved for him. "Hi," she said.

"Hi," he replied. "You've been gone all day." He didn't want to sound accusatory but couldn't hide the worry from his statement. He was still thinking over his odd afternoon visit with Johanna Mason.

Katniss sighed, stepping further into the kitchen. "I know. I was pretty far out in the woods when it started raining so I found some shelter and stayed there for a while. When it let up I went into town with what I'd gotten today, but then I got sidelined at Greasy Sae's. Besides, I thought you'd want to have your day off to yourself," she explained, trailing a finger over the back of one of the wooden chairs at the table.

Peeta shook his head. "I would've liked to spend my day off with you."

"Well I wasn't sure, after our fight yesterday I thought maybe you'd wanna be alone—"

"Katniss," Peeta cut in, closing the space between them. He wrapped his arms around her, taking her by surprise. "I never want to be alone."

"Okay," she said, rubbing his back. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Peeta said, pulling back to see her gray eyes, made darker by the weather. "I'm just glad you're home."

Katniss nodded, bemused. "Did I miss something?"

"Just a strange afternoon, that's all," Peeta replied, heading back to the soup. He knew she was thrown off by his behavior – usually when they had the Children Discussion it took him a little longer to cool off, but after his chat with Johanna staying upset seemed stupid. "Are you hungry? I know my soups are never as good as Sae's, but I think this one'll be pretty good."

"What's in it?"

"It's a surprise."

"Oh God," Katniss deadpanned. "Already off to a bad start." She passed by him to reach into the cupboard for bowls and smirked at her own humor.

"You know, not everyone comes home from a long day to a home-cooked meal," he reminded her, waving the spoon in her face. "And on my day off, no less. You may wanna appreciate this a little more."

Rolling her eyes, Katniss turned to him, handing over the bowls. When Peeta took one she kept holding on until he looked at her face. "I appreciate you," she told him, and there was no trace of sarcasm.

Peeta's grin spread slowly, growing so wide he felt like an idiot. He couldn't help it. Six years together and he could still be surprised by her. "That's all I ask," he joked.

She returned his smile, warm like a fresh loaf of bread, then grabbed two spoons as he ladled soup. "You know what was weird?" Katniss asked suddenly. "I could've sworn I saw Johanna Mason in town earlier."

Peeta brought the steaming bowls to the table. "You did," he said as he sat down.

Katniss took a seat also and frowned at him. "Johanna Mason is in District 12?"

"She's probably left by now, but yeah, she was. She actually paid me a visit today."

"Oh," Katniss said, staring at her soup.

Sensing a hint of disappointment, Peeta added: "She was in a hurry, I guess she was just here for a few hours doing some scouting."

"Scouting?" Katniss repeated, taking a sip of soup. She nodded as she swallowed. "Oh, this is good."

"Don't sound so surprised."

"I'm not! But this is definitely one of your better ones."

Peeta wanted to point out how silly and domestic they sounded, two Hunger Games victors and war veterans discussing the trivial soup he had made, but Katniss had her eyebrows raised, waiting for him to continue his Johanna story. _Right_, he thought. _This is our life now_. It couldn't have made him happier.

"The new government is setting up councils to represent each of the districts," he explained, dipping some bread into his bowl. "Johanna was here spreading the word and getting an idea of who may be good for Twelve's council."

"Wow," Katniss said. "If they're setting up councils… I guess that means a lot of the rebuilding and restructuring is done."

"If not done, then at least stable enough to get the new system running."

They both considered this in silence as they ate. Some days the end of the war felt like a generation ago, which made the slow progress of the new regime all the more frustrating – the country was clamoring for change, for new leadership and new ideals. Other days Peeta woke up expecting to be strapped down in a damp, bare chamber, feeling wild and unsure of himself or anything he'd ever known.

"Johanna asked if I'd want to be part of it," Peeta shared casually.

"Part of the Twelve council?" Katniss asked, her tone even. She always got a little cagey when discussing anything political – it had taken a charged outburst aimed at Plutarch Heavensbee for he, Paylor, and the others now in charge to lay off pestering her to have some sort of role in the new government.

"Actually she asked if I'd want to _run_ the Twelve council," Peeta explained, shaking his head in amusement.

Katniss had put down her spoon, her gaze at Peeta's chest instead of his eyes. "Are you going to?"

Peeta abandoned his own spoon and rested his elbows on the table, watching his wife. "I don't think so," he said honestly.

Katniss lifted her eyes to finally meet his. "You know, Peeta, just because I don't wanna be part of all of that… doesn't mean you can't, if that's what you want. You fought in the war too. You deserve to be an influence, if you want to be. Especially if _they're_ seeking _you_ out."

"I'm not gonna lie to you. The offer is a little tempting," Peeta admitted. "The idea of being at the forefront of forming the country's new democracy? But it would probably be a lot of work. A lot of back and forth to the New Capitol. I already have one time-consuming business here in Twelve; I don't need another that's gonna be taking me away all the time."

"You can always hire more help at the bakery," Katniss replied. "And I'm sure you'd be traveling by hovercraft back and forth. They would probably even give you a place to stay in the New Capitol."

Peeta stared at her, frowning a bit. "I don't want to leave the bakery in someone else's hands. And I don't wanna stay in the New Capitol."

"Why not?"

"Because you're _here_. After a long day I don't want to come home to some empty suite that used to belong to a wealthy Capitolite that watched us kill people for fun, in a city that makes me sick to even think of. I wanna come home from my shop to you. Every day. Here in Twelve."

Peeta thought he saw some moisture in Katniss's eyes as he spoke, but no tears spilled over, and a few clearing blinks made him wonder if he'd imagined it. "I want you to come home to me every day too. Is that selfish?"

"Not since I said it first," Peeta answered, smiling. "Besides, I _have_ to stay at the bakery. As Johanna Mason said earlier, I bake the best damn bread in Panem."

"I think I have to agree with her." They both dove back into their soup, which was now lukewarm. "So Johanna just stopped by to give you a job offer?"

"Oh," Peeta said, swallowing, now nervous. "She… had some other news, too."

"Oh?"

"She's started seeing someone."

"Really? I didn't think Johanna was the dating type."

"I guess we've all changed," Peeta said. "You used to not be the marrying type, remember?"

"I admit I came around to seeing the practicality of it," Katniss acquiesced with a teasing look. "Plus, I think my mother had been scandalized enough with us living in sin out here."

"Right," Peeta nodded mockingly. "_That's_ the reason."

"So who is it?" she asked.

"Uh, a guy she works with."

"Huh. Well, good luck to him," she said, lifting her brows. "I think he'll need it."

"Yeah… I bet," Peeta agreed.

He made the split decision then to not tell her the full story at this time – not when they had just smoothed things over from yesterday's fight, when this was turning into a nice, calm evening. The news of Johanna and Gale could wait.

"More bread?" he asked, standing to grab a few more slices.

"Please," Katniss agreed, giving him a playful grin. "Can't turn down a bread offer from the best damn baker in Panem, can I?"

"No you can't." Peeta brought a slice of the hearty grain bread to her, handing it over. As she reached out to take it he put his other hand on the back of her chair and leaned forward. She took the bread but kept her face close to his. "Nothing for the best damn baker in Panem?" he asked.

"How 'bout a thank you?"

"I was thinking something a little more affectionate."

"Ah," she said, nodding. They both were smiling as their lips met in a kiss. "How was that?"

Peeta sat back down across from her and lifted his spoon. "I'm not sure I feel fully appreciated, but we can further discuss that after we finish eating."

"You're ridiculous," Katniss laughed.

No, he would definitely be telling her about Johanna and Gale some other time.

**XXX**


End file.
